Description
An explorative study was conducted to try and understand how young children’s emerging death concepts form including, (a) what family demographics and child factors contributed to family well-being, (b) did family well-being influence children’s social competence, and (c) did family well-being and children’s social competence influence children’s death conceptions. Although the subject of death contains many unique characteristics, it is not easily separated from other aspects of life; death is inseparable from the whole human experience (DeSpelder & Strickland, 2002). It was the assumption of this paper that children develop their conceptions of death based on the appreciation they hold for life; based on children’s growth in pro-social behavior, self-worth, spirituality, values, and morals. Jennifer A. Kampmann, M.S.: Early Childhood Education Instructor & Assessment Coordinator; South Dakota State University; South Dakota.
